AMD phenom 9550 video card upgrade

[jduncan4]

as the title states i currently have an older HP pc and need to upgrade the video card..

its a AMD phenom 9550 x4
500 gig HD
700w PC power and cooling power supply
6 gigs of ram
and atm HIS ice q turbo radeon 4870 (PCIe 2.0 card)
PCIe 16x slot


i basically want to upgrade it as much as i can seeing as i just got a 24 in widescreen led monitor.. i know my processor is bottlenecking my pc but ATM i cannot upgrade the PC between buying the new monitor and the $250 ish i have marked for a video card thats my budget..


so i basically need advice on what is the best card i can put in there and what would be overkill/waste of money

id like to spend around $250 max but would be willing to go for a good deal

thanks in advance

 

[jduncan4]

I should be getting money later in the year Oct and will then buy a completely new gaming pc and give this to my son... but until then ill be playing BF3 COD MW3 and diablo 3 etc on it i dont need to play 8x AA or anything crazy but 2x AA and decent frame rates would be nice

 

[refillable]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150561

I don't think anything faster than this will be nice with your processor.

Good luck buying another PC

 

[Onus]

Your CPU is already such a bottleneck that I think you will be disappointed if you spend your whole budget. With a stronger CPU, malmental's choice would be perfect, but with what you have, I have to agree with refillable that a HD6870 is the strongest you should even consider. Here's a cheaper one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161389

 

[Inferno1217]

I agree a 6870 is perfect however this one ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161396 ) is better and comes with a 2 year warranty. This is much cooler and very quiet. You can overclock to 6950 performance. I just put one in my brothers PC and it idles @ 31c

 

[jduncan4]

thanks for the replies so far... i currently have an HIS ice qx turbo and it performed great for me in the past im looking at these 2 so far

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161396

and this one

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161393]

and this one (or is 2gb card overkill for this pc)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150563

 

[jduncan4]

that's why I say get the better card and then take it with you to the new....
I like the 6870 as well though..

well that is a good idea...

in that case should i go with an nvidia 460 ti

or an ati 6950??

big question ? will these even work in my pc?

i heard a long time ago that ati cards work better in amd systems..


i will be taking the card to my new system as well as my monitor.. this is giving me good ideas ill probably buy a bare bones and just piece it together

 

[jduncan4]

well im currently playing battlefield 3 and diablo 3 (beta) wow and black ops.dragon age 2 id like to try skyrim... i just got a 24 in monitor so id like to play at 1920×1080 at least ... i dont mind turning down the antialiasing to 2x id sacrifice graphics for framerates i was thinking 6870 but now im thinking 6950 or 560 ti (i heard reg 560 doesnt perform as well as a 6950) i guess id go with whatever will perform best in my system now and not be bad when i transfer it to the new pc later...

 

[ram1009]

My advice is stay away from AMD/ATI as they have buggy drivers.

 

[jduncan4]

it depends on which HD 6950 you match against which GTX 560 Ti but they run neck for neck OVERALL.
and overall version of the cards like all the HD 6950 vs all the GTX 560 Ti's then 51-49 split for the HD - in my opinion.

also 2GB of VRAM is nice to have in cards but @ 1080P 1GB of VRAM will do fine.

i am leaning towards a nvidia 560ti but is a 560ti (448 core worth the extra $$)

also i found my motherboard its a :

M2N68-LA (Narra3) motherboard

will this card work on it... it says pci express x16 im currently using a pci express 2.0 card

 

[mdsiu]

AMD's VLIW architecture is the cause of the inconsistency in framerates, not AMD's drivers. The new 7000 series cards with GCN should provide much more stable framerates similar to Nvidia cards.

 

[jduncan4]

i found this 2gb 6950 for $239 http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=93094&CatId=7005 would this be a better value than a 1gb 460ti say like this one for $244 http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=356683&CatId=3669 ...

 

[jduncan4]

it's your call, either will work it's a matter of preference.
but the 2GB vs 1GB doesn't matter for single 1080P.

thanks ill keep you guys posted when i make the new system

 

[Wisecracker]

i found this 2gb 6950 for $239 http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=93094&CatId=7005 would this be a better value than a 1gb 460ti say like this one for $244 http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=356683&CatId=3669 ...

You should probably find a dualBIOS reference design in that price range and unlock the shaders -- there seem to be quite a few out there. Check through the comments and pick the one that feels right.

You should do nicely with your 700w PSU ...

That should handle bottleneck that old Phenom nicely :lol: Buying just about any AM3 processor is a good idea -- here's a PHENOM II X4 840 Boxed Processor HDX840WFGMBOX in-store $60 -essentially a Propus quad- (if they're in the neighborhood). Gaming is not what your processor does best -- you need faster cores and preferably more L3 cache per core.

Any 95w or less PhII quad should work, though, and I suspect one of the higher-clocked Rana X3s would do quite well, too. Toss it in your favorite search engine and see what shakes out. If you pull that off with an unlocked 6950 you will be a gaming monster for a couple years. Clock speed, heat and poor L3 cache performance doomed the Phenom Original but for video tasks it does quite well. It's twice the size (65nm) of the new AMDs, quite a nice heater in the Winter, and a bummer for gaming these days.

Hey Mal. Happy Yew Near.

 

[jduncan4]

i settled on this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127560 MSI hawk edition 6870 overclocked... i plan on buying another and crossfire them in the new pc

 

[refillable]

Well I think that's too high, for a 6870 you don't need to pay more than $200. This is enough if you want just a better cooling solution:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161393

 

[jduncan4]

thats funny the HIS ice q was my first choice but i read up on both and the MSI is much quieter and keeps the card cooler... my current HIS ice q 4870 sounds like a jet taking off under load and is kind of annoying it also runs at 70c .. i was hoping the msi hawks claims of keeping cooler and quieter might ease that a bit

edit: i guess if im going to spend $200+ on a card a 460 ti would be a better choice.. there are many under$250 which is my limit... (i need a mouse also now 🙁..)

i just want to get the best card for my $$ and i plan on getting a 2nd card once i get my new pc in a few months..

 

[jduncan4]

k between buying a new monitor last week and now i need a new mouse (razer deathadder) and new mousepad (steelseries qck) my budget is dwindling

im 99% sure i have it down to these 2

either this HIS 6870 ice q for $189
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161393



or this gigabyte 560ti on sale for $209
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125401


is the gigabyte worth the $20 difference? and is the performance that much better? also i have a mid case and the ice q at least blows out the hot air.

 

[jduncan4]

ok i think im set then... unless i find a better deal before next week.. a 560ti for $209 is the best deal i could find so far

 

[jduncan4]

barring any great deals out there im gonna get the gigabyte 560ti for $209 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125401&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-RSSDailyDeals-_-na-_-na&AID=10521304&PID=4176827&SID=1k7tpuhjh4cb2

 

[refillable]

Seriously, I think you forget about bottlenecking. HIS IceQ X is very good, I have seen something like 'Five 6950 Comparison' in tomshardware, and they show us that His coolers (iceq x) runs very good, cool and quiet.

Here is the 6870 version, and because 6870 is probably the highest card that won't bottleneck (I think)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161396

 

[refillable]

Woops... sorry, I forget that top message. I thought he was saying 'I will be building a new system' only, without knowing that the OP wants to keep it for the next build. Sorry again. Seems like a really really good deal there with a 560 ti.

 

[jduncan4]

hey would this be worth an extra $30?? 2gb diamond 6950 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814103202 $239

or stick with this one 460 ti gigabyte http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125401&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-RSSDailyDeals-_-na-_-na&AID=10521304&PID=4176827&SID=1k7tpuhjh4cb2

 

[refillable]

I'd say stick...

 

[jduncan4]

ok ty guys... its so hard trying to stick to a budget ... i just have to remind myself this is temporary and im building a gaming pc soon


one more question is it better to have a reference cooler or a solution that blows air out the back vs fans on the card?